THIN RED LINE DRAWN AT TETERE ONCE
AGAIN
With information from L. Cappelli sdb,
Honiara
HONIARA: 12th October -- Movie-buffs will remember
the beach at Tetere in 'The Thin Red Line'. Once again that very beach and
hinterland are the backdrop to drawing lines- but this time for peace, not
war. Japanese Salesian Brother Tanaka has already begun the task of
setting up the perimeter fence enclosing new developments supported by the
European Union's Micro Projects Office at Tetere.
For the past 12 years Tetere has been a Salesian
parish - in fact the beginnings of the Salesian presence in the Solomon Islands
are recorded in this parish stretching from the famous beach (still with rotting
US landing craft and other war detritus) across the plain now covered
with much more recent detritus (palm trees that recently produced much
commercial benefit) to the heavily forested mountains behind; an area of some
200 square kilometres in all.
The arrival of the RAMSI forces (Australian, New
Zealand, Fijian... peacekeepers) has meant the arrest of warlords, cessation of
hostilities and freedom to plan again. Tetere unfortunately lay across
'enemy' lines in these more recent years also, so the freedom to plan has been
eagerly siezed by the Salesian community and the Province of Japan from which it
takes its direction. The parish pastoral plan is ambitious to say the
least:
- hospital and social centre along with 8 medical
outposts, one for each village, with solar panel and radio.
- agrotechnology, literacy and 8 separate infant
schools: updating for fishermen on the coast, agriculture for the villagers on
the plain and forestry resources conservation advice for villagers in the
mountains.
- radio station in local languages, formation of
catechists and pastoral workers for each small community.
- already well under way is a process of youth
groups and sensitizing of families to the notion of 'service for the kingdom':
vocation, in other words.
It is not always simple. The question of land
ownership and working rights has already been the source of conflict in recent
times in the Solomon Islands and, indeed, at Tetere. On 4th October,
Salesian and parish representatives met with village leaders and police to sort
all this out amicably. The end result was the 'go-ahead' for the parish
plans involving buildings and marking out of territory in each of the village
areas - and the involvement of villagers in construction. It required all
the 'oratorical' tact (read C. 40!) of the Salesians and a prize pig from Fr.
Cappelli's beloved piggery at Don Bosco Henderson to seal the deal.
Now with regard to the pig! Fr. Cappelli
makes the following tongue-in-cheek recommendation to readers with pockets
overflowing and lots of goodwill:
A 'Henderson' pig costs USD 50 to maintain but to
sell...
* medium-sized pig - $100
* a good-sized pig - $150
* large pig - $200
* pure bred pig - $250
